Across Western Europe, however, 1,061,158 new cars were sold in the 18 countries surveyed, representing a 1.4pc slump from February 2001.

A barometer of economic trends, the car sales figures made depressing reading for many nations.

Outside Britain the picture was far from rosy. Sales in Italy fell 12.3pc, in Spain they were down 7.4pc, and in France by 2.4pc, reversing "months of strong performance," the report says. Even in Europe's largest car market, Germany, sales only rose by 1.2pc.

The association's figures cover new passenger car registrations in the 15 nation EU, along with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.